Uneasy daily life

Hachiman Hikigaya: "Hmm, as expected of the captain."

"I thought about it again, and realized that I had already written such an essay for the entrance exam, so it wasn't used—writing essays is really hard."

Bai Ying said, "I'll just choose a different theme!"

"So what did you write in the end?" Yukino Yukinoshita had a feeling that she had already secured her place in the final exam competition.

"A person without talent will be mediocre and ineffective; a person who does not rely on emotions in dealing with others will be indifferent to interests; and those who have no opinions of their own will be caught in the middle."

Bai Ying snapped her fingers: "I'll start my writing directly from the direction of opposing this statement! I'll deeply criticize phenomena such as 'the degree of ability affecting moral standards,' 'emotions being calculated with numbers,' and 'modern trends interfering with judgment'—in short, the person who set the question is incompetent!"

After Bai Ying's assertive final conclusion, the activity room fell silent.

Yukino Yukinoshita calculated the time and began pouring cups of black tea: "I remember Natsume Soseki's words, followed by the summary, 'In short, life is hard to live in this world.'"

"There is indeed such a sentence, but the question setter probably omitted it," Hachiman Hikigaya speculated. "After all, this sentence is intended for high school students and isn't very positive or uplifting."

"I knew the question setter was no good."

Bai Ying said with satisfaction, "Sure enough, pointing and gesturing at people really inspires my creative desire. At that time, my pen moved with divine inspiration, and I wrote eight hundred words in one go."

"So, Shiro-kun, who's so good at pointing fingers..." Yukino Yukinoshita handed him a cup of black tea, "How many points do you think he'd get for his essay from a normal perspective?"

"It depends on the examiner's comprehension."

Bai Ying sipped the red tea in a few gulps and drank it all in one go.

Yukino Yukinoshita narrowed her eyes slightly: "Haku-kun, you haven't forgotten the final exam competition, have you?"

"Hey, I gave it my all. If I lose points in the science section, I'll go to the broadcasting room and apologize to you."

Bai Ying put down her cup, adjusted her glasses, stood up, and said, "Hachiman, you need to do your best and try to win a point for the club."

“Minister, isn’t this a bit inappropriate?” Hachiman Hikigaya suggested. “Let’s go home together.”

"Subordinates, don't overthink it. Just focus on your work and don't let down my efforts to train you into a corporate slave..."

"My dream is to be a stay-at-home dad."

There's a saying: "Even a skilled cook can't make a meal without rice."

The white figure strolled away from the activity room.

"Is something the minister has to say?" Hachiman Hikigaya probed indirectly. "Yukinoshita, do you know anything?"

“Shiro is currently staying at Sakuta Azusagawa’s house. He plans to attend Minegahara High School, where Sakuta Azusagawa attends.” Yukino Yukinoshita put away Shiro’s teacup and replied.

"Oh! You're the other waiter at the sunroom from that time?"

Yui Yuigahama remembers it vividly; it was her birthday that day, and she received gifts from other people.

"Hmm." Yukino Yukinoshita, as usual, picked up a book and sat down in the chair. "Sakuta Azusagawa is in some trouble, and Shiro probably went to help him."

"Help..." Hachiman Hikigaya coughed, "Why don't you go help out too, Yukinoshita?"

"I am indeed helping, and we are still waiting for the results."

Yukino Yukinoshita said calmly, "Hikigaya-kun, please stay in the activity room during club activities. Of course, if you want to skip class, I won't stop you."

You'll only tell the minister, right?

It seems that my plan to get Xue to go and track down the minister is doomed.

Hachiman Hikigaya felt a pang of regret and a sense of bewilderment—when the club president skipped work and ran away before, Yukinoshita immediately took action upon receiving the news, so why was she so composed today? He had thought Yukinoshita was worried that the club president was involved with Mai Sakurajima at Minegahara High School… Perhaps something had happened that he didn’t know about.

I'll get the forensic results during summer vacation, and then I can reasonably talk to Bai Jun about it. Bai Jun basically has no female friends and prefers physical contact with male friends... Sometimes I wonder if I should be wary of Hachiman and Azusagawa.

Bai Jun doesn't attract attention, and I haven't heard of him having any particular female friends, so he can relax a bit in that regard.

Yukino Yukinoshita flipped through the book with a relaxed mood.

Chapter 51 Puberty Syndrome

On the basketball court, a tall and strong boy charged left and right, relying on his agility and physique to quickly break through the gap between two opponents, and a powerful dunk made the rim tremble.

"Ah—I still can't defend against it."

"Eat more chicken."

The boy who had just scored a point noticed that his friend was walking in with someone in a white coat outside the court... Hmm? He thought it was Futaba.

"Hello--!"

The boy waved and greeted them loudly.

Sakuta Azusagawa raised his hand and waved in response, then led the white figure toward the school's laboratory building: "Yuuma Kunimi, my friend."

"Hmm—" Bai Ying asked doubtfully, "You cheated on me?"

"Unfortunately, he just got a spot on the track not long ago, so it's not my turn."

Sakuta Azusagawa laughed and said, "Because of the incident in junior high school when I was suddenly injured and sent to the hospital, most people thought I was a yakuza candidate. He is a good person who judges people by their own eyes. Even if he doesn't quite understand the extraordinary events I'm talking about, he still trusts his own judgment. He's a very rare friend."

“That’s certainly rare,” Bai Ying asked. “So, the person who suggested the probability cloud girlfriend was another friend of yours?”

“Her name is Rio Futaba, and she looks a lot like you today,” Sakuta Azusagawa said. “She also gave a name to the extraordinary events I described.”

Hmm? Could he be a colleague in the field of supernatural abilities?

Upon hearing this, Bai Ying asked, "What's your name?"

Sakuta Azusagawa scratched his face and said, "Adolescent syndrome."

I've never heard of this term before. Could it be that this person is actually in the same profession and has some knowledge of paranormal events?

……

……

"Based on the current definition of scientific research."

"Adolescence is an inevitable stage in everyone's growth process. It is also a process of moving from dependence to independence. During this process, physiological functions gradually increase, endocrine mechanisms improve, and psychological changes also develop accordingly over time, rapidly moving towards maturity but not yet fully mature... Adolescent syndrome is a unique condition of adolescents, a physiological imbalance and the resulting psychological imbalance."

In the science club's activity room, an alcohol lamp was heating a beaker, inside which swirled a dark brown liquid—judging from the smell, it should be some kind of coffee.

A girl with long, gray, curly hair and a petite figure, wearing a white lab coat, pushed up her glasses and said in a calm tone, "I think this professional term is very suitable for describing Sakuta."

"In this world, there exists a mysterious power that no one else knows about, except me!"

"You fools, my words are the only truth!"

"What's the point of living? We're all going to die anyway. You don't understand my emptiness."

"World, change for me!"

"Ugh, you bunch of childish and incompetent idiots!"

Bai Ying raised her hands, her tone calming down from agitation: "The puberty syndrome you're talking about, is it like this?"

"That's about it, in every sense of the word." The girl picked up the beaker and poured the coffee into the cup next to her.

"Tsk! So you're not from our world at all." Bai Ying shook her head regretfully.

"This sentence is very typical of adolescent syndrome."

The girl blew on the steam rising from the cup.

Sakuta Azusagawa said seriously, "So Futaba was teasing me? As expected of a cultured person, even her teasing methods are roundabout."

"It's not flirting, it's teasing, you idiot." Rio Futaba took a sip of her coffee. "Is that direct enough?"

Sakuta Azusagawa took a moment to savor the moment, then said with lingering enthusiasm, "A few more lines."

Rio Futaba rolled her eyes: "The 'hospital incident' you mentioned in junior high was actually about how you suddenly injured your chest and ran into a boy and an older girl when you escaped from the hospital. I've never met the girl named Makinohara Shoko, so I won't comment on her—this white figure makes me feel like you really have puberty syndrome."

“Hmm…” Sakuta Azusagawa sighed, “Shiro, bringing you here seems to have lowered my credibility.”

"It's alright. As the saying goes, lion's droppings are better than bear's droppings. She'll believe it once she actually encounters something extraordinary."

Bai Ying took out her phone and searched for scientific research on puberty syndrome. She said knowingly, "In a sense, this term may really point to the core of the problem. To put it simply, it is a beating. Young boys and girls are beaten by various problems during their growth. At best, they leave behind a dark history of 'making the world feel pain' to 'I feel pain for hell'. At worst, they feel that life is not worth living and they can only jump to their death."

"Hmm..." Sakuta Azusagawa asked curiously, "Why is it called puberty syndrome?"

Rio Futaba put down her coffee cup and sighed, "Because this is the process of human growth, the influence of various hormones during physiological development, and the psychological development process of gradually understanding various things. If you encounter some unfortunate things at this stage, it will have an excessive impact..."

“Undried clay can be molded by external force, but shaped ceramics are different; they either remain undamaged or crack immediately.” Bai Ying pulled up a chair and sat down, saying with interest, “In that case, there can be not only adolescent syndrome, but also social syndrome. When students first enter the social environment and are subjected to the harsh realities of society, they may become radicalized and degenerate, or even unable to endure it and start over on the spot…”

Sakuta Azusagawa retorted, "It sounds like it should be called 'youth syndrome,' but is there such a thing as 'middle-aged syndrome'?"

"Midlife syndrome? Well, it's not uncommon. It mainly has three symptoms—no money, no status, and no skills. It's a condition that arises after life has dealt it a harsh blow." Bai Ying thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't think we're talking about that, are we?"

“No, but there’s a connection.” Sakuta Azusagawa shrugged and asked, “Futaba, if someone suddenly becomes someone that others can’t remember, what could be the reason?”

Rio Futaba rolled her eyes: "Because your memory is terrible. People always overestimate their memory. Memory is a very vague thing. For example, when you try to recall something, you will find that recalling is more like a picture recording something than an experience. The relationship between experience and memory is like processing a video into a series of pictures. It is perfectly normal to lose some data in the process."

Sakuta Azusagawa replied to Shiro, "Shiro, it must be that your memory is too bad."

"Absolutely impossible. I am an ultimate form that has undergone special modifications," the white figure said confidently. "With my memory, there is no way I could forget what I was just doing. It must be that the Hero Plus has caused some extraordinary phenomenon."

Rio Futaba asked in surprise, "Hero Plus? Who? Are you talking about Sakuta?"

“No, I’m talking about Mai Sakurajima,” Sakuta Azusagawa said. “Futaba should have heard that Mai Sakurajima retired from the entertainment industry and went back to school, right?”

"I don't know." Rio Futaba shook her head. "I'm not interested in these kinds of things."

"I don't know," Bai Ying said knowingly. "No one will tell you this kind of thing."

Futaba Rio: "..."

Sakuta Azusagawa laughed and said, "Don't you get the feeling that this guy 'has superpowers'?"

“All I can think of is that he’s an expert in psychology,” Rio Futaba sighed. “So what are you trying to say? That Mai Sakurajima has the superpower to make people forget her?”

"This should be called adolescent syndrome. Due to family reasons, Mai Sakurajima forcibly left the entertainment industry environment where she had been since she was six years old and lived separately from her family. The environment became unfamiliar, and she felt lonely. After living alone, she was prone to getting lost in her own thoughts. Her focus shifted from work to school, and she had not yet adapted to or integrated into the new rhythm of life, which exacerbated the impact."

Bai Ying analyzed the situation meticulously: "In short, life has given her a hard time, her family has given her a hard time, and she is currently in a period of confusion after being beaten down, occasionally experiencing feelings of suicidal thoughts... In general terms, this kind of thing is very common, and it's only a matter of time before the brave plus overcomes the problem, but she seems to be entangled in some kind of abnormal state, causing her to be forgotten by others."

“Adolescent syndrome… Futaba’s teasing term for me, perhaps it really does describe this situation.” Sakuta Azusagawa sighed softly. “Kaede was bullied over a year ago, and her body developed bruises and scars that looked like she had been bullied—psychological problems suddenly manifesting as real-life phenomena.”

"I feel a little sorry, but I still don't quite understand."

Rio Futaba said helplessly, "What you are discussing now seems to me like... the act of forcibly linking personal feelings with objective reality in literature. Even if psychological problems turn into real-world problems, people still have to take corresponding actions. Whether it is being forgotten or having injuries from being bullied appearing out of nowhere, it is all very unrealistic."

Bai Ying asked with great interest, "From a scientific perspective, how do you think Sakurajima Mai was forgotten?"

"First of all, science is a way of understanding the world. I haven't even come across the strange phenomena you're talking about, so naturally I have no idea," Rio Futaba said casually. "If we have to find something from the existing knowledge system and force a logical connection... Schrödinger's cat is probably a very well-known theory, right?"

“Of course,” Bai Ying said firmly. “Emperor Schrödinger is truly admirable. He suppressed millions of demons in the world with ease, making him virtually invincible!”

Rio Futaba: "Your friend has a truly broad perspective."

Sakuta Azusagawa: "My friends are quite well-rounded, including liberal arts, science, and sports."

"To put it simply, it's a problem of observation."

Rio Futaba said calmly, "The so-called being forgotten means that it still exists, but it cannot be observed by people. Just like the cat is definitely in the box, but without opening the box, people cannot know the cat's condition. Even from a logical point of view, as time goes by, there will definitely be a dead cat in the box, whether it starved to death, thirsted to death, or poisoned to death, but it is not a result that can be observed."

"In fact, I don't really believe that Mai Sakurajima can't be observed. It's a bit far-fetched. As a celebrity, she has a lot of interactions and records to date, such as the TV dramas she's acted in and the people who know her. If she can't be observed, it means that all of these things will have a ripple effect... The scope would be so large, the number of people affected would be so many, and the phenomena would be so unpredictable that it would definitely make the news."

Bai Ying pondered for a moment and said, "Hmm... perhaps we could capture Sakurajima Mai and use her for experiments?"

Bang bang bang.

A knock suddenly sounded at the door. The three looked towards the entrance, and Rio Futaba said, "Please come in."

The classroom door was opened.

Mai Sakurajima stood at the door.

Rio Futaba and Sakuta Azusagawa looked at each other, then at the white figure.

"Okay! Grab her!"

The white figure struck first, slamming his hand on the table and rising to his feet.

Chapter 52 Let's do an experiment

"You are sick."

Dr. Bai smiled broadly and asserted with conviction.